Phenobarbital produces its anti-epileptic actions by increasing the inhibitory drive of γ-aminobutyric acid. However, following recurrent seizures, γ-aminobutyric acid excites neurons because of a persistent increase of chloride raising the important issue of whether phenobarbital could aggravate persistent seizures. Here we compared the actions of phenobarbital on initial and established ictal...

Large calyciform synapses in the rat reticular thalamic nucleus are characterized by the presence of gamma-aminobutyric acid. Presynaptic terminals are also loaded with calcium-binding proteins such as parvalbumin, calbindin, calretinin and calcineurin. The number of calyciform terminals containing gamma-aminobutyric acid and parvalbumin is 2005 in young adult rats; calbindin is present in 1,50...

Introduction Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a major neuro transmitter widely distributed throughout the central nervous system (CNS). Because too much excitation can lead to irritability, restlessness, insomnia, seizures, and movement disorders, it must be balanced with inhibition. GABA – the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain – provides this inhibition, acting like a “b...

BACKGROUND Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast) has great potential as a whole-cell biocatalyst for multistep synthesis of various organic molecules. To date, however, few examples exist in the literature of the successful biosynthetic production of chemical compounds, in yeast, that do not exist in nature. Considering that more than 30% of all drugs on the market are purely chemical compou...

The precedence effect is a prerequisite for faithful sound localization in a complex auditory environment, and is a physiological phenomenon in which the auditory system selectively suppresses the directional information from echoes. Here we investigated how neurons in the inferior colliculus respond to the paired sounds that produce precedence-effect illusions, and whether their firing behavio...

y-Cyano-cr-L-aminobutyric acid is identified for the first time as a biological substance. This amino acid nitrile accumulates when inorganic cyanide is administered to young cultures of Chromobacferium violaceum strain D 341. Cyanide supplies the cyano group, and aspartic acid supplies carbon atoms 1 to 4. Biosynthesis of P-cyanoalanine also takes place and appears to be controlled by aspartic...